The quote at the beginning of each chapter lets the reader know something about the theme, purpose, or plot of the chapter. I am going to discuss the quotes at the beginnings of the first four chapters, to show you how each connects. Someone else might want to discuss some of the others, but this will help you to understand how to make these connections and make it easier for you to make these connections in the other chapters, too.
The first quote, for Chapter One, focuses on the importance of the queen bee and how her absence from a bee colony has a great effect upon the colony. The first chapter introduces us to Lily, who lost her mother at age four, and it explains what an impact the loss of her mother has had upon her. The mother is the queen bee as the story begins, and Lily is part of the colony, suffering from the loss of her queen bee.
The second quote, for Chapter Two, concerns bees that are leaving the old nest, because they have no queen. A scout bee will look for a new place that is suitable to start a new colony. This is the chapter in which Lily and Rosaleen leave home, running away after Rosaleen and Lily are apprehended by the police. While Rosaleen does not know it, Lily has determined to go to Tiburon, to find out about her mother, based upon a label she has from some place she knows her mother has visited, a label captioned "Black Madonna Honey." This is like the bees leaving their nest to begin a new colony somewhere else.
In Chapter Three, the quote that begins the chapter is about new beekeepers finding a queen bee by first finding her "circle of attendants" (57). When Lily and Rosaleen get to Tiburon, they stop at a general store, where Lily finds honey jars with the same label, and she inquires about where they are from. She learns that the honey is made by August Boatwright, and she gets directions to August's house. She and Rosaleen set off there, looking for the queen bee in a way, finding those who are around her protecting and caring for her.
The quote that begins Chapter Four concerns bees as social beings. living in colonies, each a "family unit" (67) comprised of females. They all cooperate in all work, and males are not necessary most of the time. Lily and Rosaleen meet the Boatwright family in this chapter, August, June, and May, all living together in a pink house, working together as a family unit, with no males present anywhere at this point in the book.
So, you can see that each quote is carefully selected to highlight what the chapter is about, the action in the chapter or a theme of the chapter. All of the quotes accomplish this, and it is important to look at each as you begin the chapter, since it creates a preview of what is to come.
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